Who wins Anambra Central Senatorial zone election?

There is a popular adage which says that when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. In Anambra Central Senatorial District, preparation for the election of who represents the district after the March 28 election has indeed been very tough and three tough candidates have been busy slugging it out to cling the position.

Although several other candidates are also campaigning, the three candidate who have convinced all and sundry that they mean business are the incumbent Senator, Dr. Chris Nwabueze Ngige of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Victor Umeh of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and Hon. Uche Ekwunife, who is presently in the House of Representatives and contesting on the platform of the peoples Democratic Party.

Even before now, each of the three candi­dates had been very strong politically, which enabled them to emerge as contestants in their individual political parties.

Senator Chris. Nwabueze Ngige of the APC had been Governor of Anambra State for three years before the Court of Appeal nulli­fied his election and declared Mr. Peter Obi, as the rightful winner of the election.

For the three years he was in office, as the governor, he did a lot to impress the people of Anambra and has since then been regarded as the best governor that ruled Anambra State.

Chief Victor Umeh has even till now remained the National Chairman of APGA. As the national chairman, he has made serious impact on the party, especially in Anambra State where he is regarded as the pillar that has continued to hold the party, even after the former leader and former Governor of Anam­bra State, Mr. Peter Obi, abandoned APGA and pitched camp with the People’s Demo­cratic Party (PDP) against his vow never to leave APGA for any other political party.

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Hon. Uche Ekwunife, presently represents Aniocha and Njikoka in the House of Representatives. She is concluding her second tenure in the House and has, therefore, decided to advance to the Senate through the 2015 general elections. Before now, Ekwunife had won election into the National Assembly on the platform of APGA but has since joined the PDP and secured the party’s ticket for Anambra Central Senatorial Election.

The Anambra Central Senatorial Zone political scenario

Anambra Central Senatorial Zone has always been the hottest senatorial zone in Anambra State, a situation which stems from the fact that the zone has some of the most powerful politicians in the state, contesting on the platform of three most powerful political parties, APGA, which is the ruling party in the state and which government in Anambra State was established about eight years, the PDP, which produced the government at the federal level and the All Progressives Congress, APC, which is the strongest opposition party at the federal level.

The candidates’ chances

Beyond doubt, none of three major contestants in the Anambra Central Senato­rial District is a pushover, considering their antecedents. The fact, however, remains that all things being equal, when their political weights are put on the balance, one must weigh higher than the others and, therefore, eventually emerge as the Senator. This piece, therefore, makes an honest critical analysis of the chances of three of them.

Chief Victor Umeh:

Chief Victor Umeh, the National Chair­man of APGA, is no mean person in politics and has led the party to election victories, especially in Anambra State. It presently has representation dominance in the state House of Assembly and produced both the former governor of the state, Mr. Peter Obi, and the incumbent, Chief Willie Obiano.

He is also regarded as the most liberal and most press-friendly of the three candidates, a position that has given him the largest public­ity, even in this election campaign.

Chief Umeh is, however, highly criticised, especially by APGA members, of being very dictatorial and selfish, which critics said manifested greatly in his decision to vie for Anambra Central Senatorial Seat without first relinquishing the national chairmanship of APGA and extending his tenure by three months, to enable him hold on to the chair­manship of the party until the end of his 2015 election.

It was also widely said that Chief Umeh was running his office as national chairman of APGA and was dictating issues for members of Anambra state executive of the party to their dislike.

Some members of the party were said to have resolved not to support his election, as payback for all his dictatorial leadership policy in APGA and, if that happens, it will seriously work against him on Saturday.

Hon. Uche Ekwunife:

Hon. Uche Ekwunife has been in the House of Representatives in the past eight years and has impressed highly on Aniocha and Njikoka Federal Constituency, which she represents due to the number of constituency projects she established there.

The fact that she has won elections for the House of Representatives two consecutive times indicates that she has the nod of her constituency and that she has indeed impacted on them.

It should, however, be realised that Anambra Central Senatorial is much larger than Aniocha /Njikoka Federal Constituency and that what happens in that political segment may not ap­ply at Anambra Central Senatorial Zone.

A typical example of that fact could be taken from her experience when she contested the Anambra governorship election and per­formed so abysmally.

It is also a fact that under normal circum­stance, Igbo seldom give highly challenging positions to women and the nation may play out on this even though Senator Okadigbo’s wife had such opportunity.

Sen. Chris Ngige:

Before Sen. Chris Nwabueze Ngige was elected to the Senate in 2011, he had a spell as the Governor of Anambra State for three years before he was ousted by the court. As if he knew he was not going to serve out the tenure of office, he utilised the short period he stayed as governor, to impact positively on the people and created an impression that has since then remained indelible.

Even as he serves as Senator, he has, through his various contributions in the Senate and the constituency projects he embarked upon in Anambra Central Senatorial Zone which he represents, endeared himself to the people even the more.

His membership of the Senate Committee on Power has offered him even better oppor­tunity to provide more constituency projects as he attracted a minimum of two transform­ers to each of the communities in Anambra Central Senatorial Zone. Some communities got as much as 10 transformers, depending on population and need.

In 2014, Sen. Ngige awarded 3,620 scholar­ship to students in various levels of education in Anambra Central Senatorial Zone and is presently issuing new forms for 2015 batch of the scholarship.

In addition, about 12 communities received health centres through his instrumentality, as a Senator. All the projects and programmes are indeed not going unnoticed and people are gearing for pay-back through their votes.

As usual, Senator Ngige is banking on bloc votes that always go to him from Idemili North and South Local Governments and their populations are indeed very high.

Perhaps, the major complaint that people have about him is that he is very stingy, but that could be cancelled by his policy of instituting projects that benefit all and sundry rather than enriching individual pockets.

When all the odds and education of the three candidates are generally analysed, Senator Dr. Ngige appears to be on top and is most likely to emerge as Senator, representing Anambra Central Senatorial Zone.